Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to a new technology developed in order to augment the accuracy and usability of a family of electronic data entry devices, with specific emphasis toward input devices employed to register electronic votes cast by individuals in electoral processes, namely, during an actual voting session in an Election Day; but nonetheless having many potential applications in the field of devices dedicated to data entry or, more generally, to any touch-sensitive devices that accept input from human beings.
Background
All direct recording electronic voting machines incorporate a data entry means of some type, such as buttons, tactile surfaces or membranes, touch screens, et cetera. In particular, touch screen technology has advanced to a high degree, making the existence of a plurality of novel devices possible, such as all-in-one computers, PDAs, smart phones, tablet computers, hand-held game consoles, etc. Electronic keypads have been ubiquitous for more than half a century now, having found their way into commonplace devices such as calculators, remote controls, push-button telephones, command module panels in all sorts of machinery, including vehicles such as automobiles, vessels and aircraft; and in security devices such as combination locks and digital door locks.
When it comes to the economic factors that go into the design of electronic voting machines however, quite often the differences in costs between the data entry alternatives of touch screens vs. tactile surfaces or pads are considerable, especially in the case of highly populated countries where the numbers of voting devices to be deployed must suffice for millions of voters to be served during the span of a few hours in a single day.
Many countries routinely schedule elections that are carried on in a nation-wide scale, rather than at the county level or state level, with the effect that the number of candidates, parties, and available posts in a contest may require large touch screens or surfaces populated with a plurality of buttons to accommodate them conveniently and in sufficient detail. Some implementations have opted in favor of tactile surfaces, with the result that often a significant portion of the body or exposed appearance of an electronic voting machine which is visible to the voting public is comprised of one or more data entry “pads” or “surfaces” which is or are an integral part of said voting machine, bestowing it with an impressive size and appearance. An alternative type of solution consists of attaching one or more external data entry electronic pads as peripherals to a voting machine, where the firmware of the pad(s) “handshakes” and interacts with the resident software in the voting machine, consistently behaving and operating as a single, unique system to the users, namely, the voters and poll workers alike.
The inventors have previously devised one of these apparatuses, sometimes called “electronic ballots”, but more formally called “ELECTRONIC VOTING PAD INPUT DEVICES”, which has succeeded commercially in several elections and which has been patented in several countries (U.S. Pat. No. 7,537,159, Philippines Patent No. 1-2006-000337, Mexico Patent No. 268491, Argentina Patent No. AR053952B1).
The voting act usually requires that the voter examines the layout of available electoral options for a given election in a given location, such as a state or county, options which are typically visible in the electronic pad itself, by means of a paper ballot overlay which is affixed onto it, where customized candidate and election data having been previously printed for a specific voting process and location, down to the precinct level, thus mimicking a traditional paper ballot of old, as mentioned above. Upon identifying his/her preferred electoral options, the voter then applies a finger and presses on a spot conveniently located next or above the textual and/or graphical representation of said options running in the current election. Naturally, such options in the ballot follow designs which must have been previously agreed upon by all contenders and by the applicable electoral authority, and are comprised by informative texts and/or images, having the faces and names of candidates, with the possible addition of the emblems and/or colors of their respective political parties, or of a regional fraction thereof, or of an alliance, and the corresponding offices to be elected in the applicable contests.
When a citizen performs the act of actual voting, the voting machine registers the voting data, that is, the selected options made by the voter, in an encrypted format, and also the machine may print a receipt or VVPAT (Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail) to allow for later verification and audit of the votes. During the whole Voting Day the ballot paper remains intact in the electronic pad(s) connected to a given voting machine and hence it can be used by all voters assigned to that specific voting station, machine or precinct. The main function and object of an electronic voting pad input device is to facilitate the inputting of choices by the voters using a relatively inexpensive technology while eliminating the need to pre-print a great many, even millions of ballots for a given election process, as in each precinct a single sheet of paper is repeatedly used, namely, viewed by many voters.
Experience has shown however, that a percentage or portion of the voters, especially the less savvy, the elderly, or those with and impaired vision or other disabilities, have experienced some degree of difficulty and/or confusion when it has come to actually vote. Some of such difficulties are associated with the requirement that in each instance, pressure must be applied with a finger in a very small area within the electronic voting pad surface, signaled by a small rectangle, circle or oval in the ballot template, which is located close to and besides the graphical representation of the option that the voter has decided to vote for, and corresponds to an intersection of conductors in the adjacent layer designs that constitute the electronic membrane, where electrical contact is accomplished due to the pressure exerted over that precise spot. However, it is a fact that sometimes the voter misses the precise location of those small areas or zones, not just once but repeatedly, and that the problem mostly happens when the voter lacks the mechanical ability or the proper visual focus due to any of the causes mentioned above. The present invention seeks to overcome such difficulties through a technology that offers a much greater area sensible to the touch, which makes much easier to press the selected option successfully, that is, without error, and also without any doubt.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a relevant improvement to a type of input means used in many application, especially in elections, namely, touch-sensitive pads or membranes that facilitate the act of voting proper, making the points where pressure must be applied in order to register a choice considerably larger and thus more convenient, while at the same time reducing the chances of mistakes, errors, and the risk of malfunction, with the added benefit of attaining simplicity and flexibility in ballot design.
There is still room for improvement in the art.